John e



J. E. EUTH.

COLLAR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I2. I919.

1,316,882, Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

cy k kwv Af/orney.

JOHN E. EUTH, 0F BROMLEY, KENTUCKY.

COLLAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

Application filed April 12, 1919. Serial N0. 289,548.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN E. EUTH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bromley, in the county of Kenton and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Collars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the collars of shirts commonly known as soft collars in that they are not starched and ironed into stifi' smooth condition; such collars usually being detachable from the shirts; and although not necessarily limited to that embodiment my invention is more especially applicable to collars that are detachable from the shirts.

The object of my invention is to hold such soft collars in smooth upright condition while being worn; thereby deriving all of the advantage of the starched stiff collar as concerns maintenance of a neat appearance and also the advantages of the soft collar in that the laundry work on the soft collar is much less, both in amount and degree of skill required, than it is upon the starched stiflf collar.

My invention consists in the combination of parts and in the details of construction and arrangement of parts, and in the new article of manufacture as will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a collar embodying my invention and substantially in the position that it has when worn;

Fig. 2 is a lan view of a collar opened out into flat condition to clearly show its interior construct-ion Fig. 3 is a vertical front to rear section of the back of the collar on a plane correspond ingio the line 33 of Fig. 1;

ig. 1 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 2 showing the stiffener removed from the collar;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view corresponding to Fig. 4 and showing the middle part of a modified stiffener; and

Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-section on a plane correspondin to the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

The example chosen for illustration herein represents a collar of a style that is popular at the present time; but it will be understood that my invention is applicable to collars of practically any style of the same type. Practically all of the soft collars are of this type; consisting in general of a facing member 1 and an inside band 2, joining each other in a fold 3 that becomes the upper edge of the collar when the collar is in wearing position as shown in Fig. 1. The inside band 2 does not have its construction affected by my invention; and as usual has the button-hole 4 at the middle for attaching it to the collar band of the shirt at the back of the neck and at one end forms the flap 5 with a button-hole 6, and at the other end comprises the flap 7 a short distance in from which a button 8 is attached to the band :2 up near the fold 3 to be received in the buttonhole 6 as the flap '7 comes under the flap 5. The flaps 5 and 7 also have the button-holes 9 and 10, respectively, by which the collar is buttoned to the shirt at the front. This inside band 2 is made up of two layers of material suitably sewed together along the free edge 11 of the band and receiving between them along their other edge adjacent to the fold 3, the adjacent edges of the two layers 12 and 13 of material which form the facing member 1. The outer layer 13 which provides the visible surfaces of the collar when being worn, is usually of a suitable attractively appearing material while the inner layer 12 is of less expensive material and it serves merely to reinforce and assist in maintaining the smooth condition of the outer layer 13. As thesecollars are usually made, the two layers 12 and 13 are simply stitched together along the lower or free edge of the facing member 1 in the same way that the free edge of the inner band 2 was just described as being made. Variations from the construction just described have been made for different purposes among which is the purpose to more effectively reinforce the outer facing layer of material by providing additional thicknesses of material similar to that of the inner la er 12.

y improved construction differs from any of these in comprising a resilient stiffener 14 to lie inside the facing member 1.

loid, xylonite or rubber compositions of various kinds, or any material of a similar nature, in that it answers to the requirements just stated. It may be cut from sheets or may be molded or otherwise formed after the manner of making Waterproof collars and the like. It will be understood that some of the advantages of my invention may be derived by constructing the collar with such a stiffener permanently secured therein either between two adjacent layers of the facing member 1 or by otherwlse suitably securing it permanentl' to said member. In any case the sti ener should be continuous throughout the area of the facing member with the exception only of yery narrow areas along the edges which are necessarily occupied by the seams that hold the edge parts of the collar material together as herein exemplified. Whatever the particular shape of the facing member both as concerns height at front and back, and as concerns the shape of the wings 15 at the front, this stifi'ener should conform to that shape. It is highly desirable that there should be no material deviation from this conformity and no material interruption in the extent of the stiffener anywhere throughout the area of the facing member; because any such deviation or interruption permits the soft facin material to become depressed or projectec? abruptly accordingly as the irregularities are projections or depressions. Any such depression or projection receives an undue amount of rubbing by the other garments which, except when quite new or very newlycle aned, will always soil the rubbed surface. Any prominent irregularity in the surface of the facing will thus receive a much greater pro-' portion of soiling than the rest of the surface and will thus become noticeably soiled in an exceptionally short time. These considerations largely govern the details of construction and arrangement both of the collar and of the stiflener therein whether the stiffener be permanently fixed in the collar or be made removable therefrom, as is eatly preferred.

y having the stiffener or reinforcement removable from the collar the practical laundrying of the collar is" thus permitted;

and also this makes it unnecessary to have a stiffener or reinforcement for each collar. It is necessary only to have such a means for each different style of collar used by the wearer. And, of course, each style of stiffener as regards shape and height at front and back must be provided in the various sizes required for different wearers.

As herein exemplified, the stiffener 14 is removably mounted in the collar in a pocket 16 which is stitched to the layers 13 and 14 of the facing member 1 along the entire lower or free edge, and along the front edges l7 and along next to the fold 3 short lengths 18 inward toward the middle of the collar from said edges 17. Between these lengths of stitching 18, the pocket 16 preferably has a segment cut away so that it has a free edge 19 curving down toward the middle from each stitching 18.

The stifl'ener 14 of any suitable material answering to the requirements as hereinbefore described, and of the proper size and shape relative to the collar to fit snugly inside this pocket 19, is placed therein by flexing the stiffener 14 until its ends 20 will enter this opening of the pocket along the free edge 19; and then when the stifi'ener 14 is extended from its flexed condition it will fill the pocket and be held from material shifting therein by engagement of its edges along the side edges of the pocket. The band 2 is then turned down behind the facing member 1 and the collar is put on in the usual manner. But now, instead of being susceptible to wrinkling and collapse under the pressure due to the movements of the wearers head and neck and due to absorbing perspiration, the outer facing member 1 will be held in moderately stretched smooth condition and will present a neai appearance after the manner of the ordinary starched stiff collar. Of course, the inner band 2 will be subject to the disarranging influences just mentioned, as is permissible since this part of the collar is not seen when worn; but the thicknesses of material making up this inner band, and in addition the stiffener 14 itself, will practically prevent the travel of perspiration out to the outer facing member, and the smooth stretched condition of this member will be maintained.

The middle part 19 of the pocket is curved downwardly as shown and as just described, rather than made the full height of the middle part of the facin member 1, because the material of the poc et 16 in this part, if of too great height and unsupported at its upper edge, has a tendency to sa down and wrinkle inside the back of the collar making the collar uncomfortable to the wearer and unduly interfering with the working of the necktie in the collar. ,The' cutting away of the pocket in the middle in this way avoids this difliculty; but there is also a tendency for this relatively low part of the pocket material to be pulled down and out from under the lower edge of the stifl'cner 14 after the collar is worn for a while. For preventing this some kind of 1.01 ling means for this middle part of the pocket material, on the stiffener 14, is desirable. As shown in Figs. 1 to 4, a tongue 21 is attached to one side of the stifi'ener 14 at the middle thereof and extending from near the lower edge therein up part way of the height and diverging from the surface of the stifi'ener 14 as clearly seen in Fig. 3. The material of the pocket 16 at the middle up near the downwardly curved ed e 19 is provided with a button-hole 22; an when the stiffener 14 has been slipped into the pocket as before described, care being taken to have this tongue 21 out next to the button-hole 22, the pocket material may be drawn up until the tongue 21 enters the button-hole. This drawing up operation is permitted by the pliableness of the stiffener. Then when the collar with the stifi'ener therein is brought around to wearing position, this tongue 21 will be firmly held up through the buttonhole 22 and will prevent the material of the pocket 16 from slipping down as before alluded to.

In the modification shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the tongue 21' is integral with the stiffener 14, being formed of material bent up from a recess 23 cut in the lower edge of the stifi'ener at the middle. This tongue operates in conjunction with the button-hole 2-2 in the manner just described. This recess 23 is, of course, an interruption in the area of the stifi'ener and will cause some concentrated soiling as hereinbefore mentioned; but ordinarily would not be objectionable because if the coat or other garment is worn so as to soil the collar in this part, this coat or other garment covers the part thus soiled during all ordinary positions of the wearer, and if no coat be worn, the soiling will not occur in this way.

These soft collars have usually been made with their outer facings of materials of pronounced weave or pattern which thus does not so much deteriorate in appearance due to wrinkling or dampening as does a material of smoother texture, as for instance, the texture of the ordinary linen collar which is starched stiff. But with my improvement to keep the outer material of the soft collar stretched and smooth and protected from dampening it is practithe smooth appearance of the ordinary starched stifi' collar with all of the advantages of the soft collar as to economy and as to comfort to the wearer. The comfort of the unstifi'ened soft collar is practically realized because the upper edge along the fold 3 as well as the entire inner flap or band 2 are thick enough to constitute, in their always soft condition, a soft cushion between. the edge of the contained stifl'ener 14 ,and the wearers neck. Also along the lower edges and especially at the tips of the wings 15, this cushioning effect of the soft material is highly desirable as preventing wearing of the shirt by contact of these tips, such as frequently occurs with the ordinary stiff collars and such as would occur with the stifi'ener 14 uncushioned.

While certain constructional details are deemed preferable in connection with my invent-ion, and I have shown and described these rather specifically in elucidating the construction and use of my invention, as is required, I do not wish to be understood as being limited to such precise showing and description, but having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a collar, in combination with the outer facing structure thereof of soft flexible material, a pocket opening on the inner side of said facing structure and also of soft flexible material, the interior extent of said pocket being substantially the full area of said facing structure, said pocket having an upward opening inside the collar and having engaging means near said upward opening and near the middle of the collar, and a stiffener of pliable resilient material adapted to be inserted into said pocket through said opening, and engaging means on said stifi'ener to engage with said engaging means of said pocket to maintain said material in position relative to said stiffener.

2. In a collar, in combination with the outer facing structure thereof of soft flexible material, a pocket opening on the inner side of said facin structure and also of soft flexible material, the interior extent of said pocket being substantially the full area of said facing structure, said pocket having an upward opening inside the collar and having a hole in its material near said upward opening and near the middle of t e collar, a stiffener of pliable resilient material adapted to be inserted into said pocket through said opening, and a tongue on said stiffener to enter said hole whereby said pocket material is held in position relative to said stiffener.

3. As a new and im roved article of manufacture, a collar stiffener of pliable,

flexible material of size and shape to fit of the collar to maintain the relative posii1; a coldlar belind the facing structure fiheretions of the collar and stiflfe'ner.

o an rein orce said structure su stantially throughout the facing area thereof, JOHN EUTH and having a projection on one of its sides. Witnesses:

a substantial distance up from its lower CLARENCE PERDEW, J

edge to engage with part of the material REBA RoUnEBUsH. 

